gwen: house speaker john boehner's response, no way. they are, he said, at stalemate. >> the white house spends three weeks trying to develop a proposal, and they send one up here that calls for $1.6 trillion in new taxes, calls for a little -- not even $400 billion in cuts, and they want to have this extra spending that's actually greater than the amount they're willing to cut. i mean, it was not a serious proposal. and so right now we're almost nowhere. gwen: both ends say americans voted for growth and responsibility during the last election, but each apparently is read looking the same message differently. what a surprise. so how much of the policy is about standoff and how much is about politics? >> it's a little bit of each. but i would have to say right now it's a lot about politics and it's a lot about political theater. you just showed these guys. ok, so they have given their opening round. we all know where they stand. this is for the base of their parties now, which the president, of course, has been meeting with his liberal